Application service governance

SOA governance and API management

A well developed Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) offers great value to businesses. If done right, service oriented architecture can help companies accelerate development, create future-proof flexibility, and reduce the risk of downtime and system failure. Reusable services within SOA work together to complete business processes, allowing for better integration and communication across the enterprise. Whether internal or external, on-premises on in the cloud, the services interoperate to add value to businesses. These reusable services must be easy to locate, understand, and manage while following policies, regulations, best practices.

It is crucial to establish some form of SOA Governance to manage applications and services throughout the enterprise. SOA Governance, sometimes referred to as application service governance, makes it easy to locate, index, and manage internal and external services while also monitoring performance and enforcing standards. Moreover, as API consumption increases in popularity, organizations will demand deeper visibility in order to better manage and monitor API consumption, as well as enforce standards. API Management allows businesses to deliver on the API economy, efficiently.

Challenges surround SOAs and APIs

SOA Governance addresses the problems associated with managing service oriented architecture. Business infrastructures consist of both on-premises and cloud based services working on numerous heterogeneous devices. Lack of visibility makes it difficult to locate and manage services, often resulting in duplication. Moreover, the combination of internal and external services has made service oriented architecture governance much more intricate, ultimately causing service delivery complications. Internal and external services and applications need to be monitored and managed through SOA Governance and API Management in order to create efficient business processes and ensure systematic service delivery.

An application service governance framework goes beyond SOA Governance to include API Management. The two features, consolidated under the application service governance term, focus on runtime capabilities, operations, and maximizing value for businesses. Application service management must not only overcome challenges associated with SOA Governance, but also those associated with API Management. Visibility and control into an infrastructure are important, yet with overly complex SOA architecture, businesses often lack the visibility and control they need. Moreover, enforcing policies, managing corporate governance, and following best practices with some sort of SOA Governance, API Management, or application service governance is essential. Without it, automating processes for error handling, security, performance, and policy enforcement become much more difficult. Additionally, connecting people, processes, and technology in a disparate environment becomes increasingly complicated.

MuleSoft offers a platform solution

MuleSoft understands the challenges businesses face when dealing with SOA Governance and API management within their business ecosystem. To better manage the enterprise, MuleSoft offers the Anypoint™ Platform, consisting of numerous products to help connect and transform businesses.

A product within this platform is Anypoint Service Registry, the next generation platform for SOA Governance. Designed for the new enterprise and capable of supporting hybrid environments, the service registry aids businesses by making it easy to catalog, find, and manage services throughout their lifecycles. Another product, Anypoint API Manager, enforces application service governance for the web services and external services that make up an enterprise. API Manager makes it easy to manage and monitor APIs throughout their lifecycles, simplifying the act of web service governance. Moreover, users have complete visibility into the API partner community, control to administer policies to ensure security, and make certain that best practices are being followed.

Application service governance converges both SOA Governance and API Management to deliver solutions for organizations to better govern their enterprises. MuleSoft’s Service Registry and API Manager are two robust solutions that help businesses overcome the greatest challenges associated with SOA Governance and API Management:

• Lack of visibility: Without visibility into services and relationships, duplication can easily occur, wasting resources, time, and money. With a central location for services, obtaining information about who is using services and consuming APIs is easy. Moreover, with an accurate view of services, users have the ability to promote reuse and prevent service duplication. Performance management allows quick performance assessment and operational usage metrics.
• Lack of governance: Service Oriented Architecture requires some form of governance to align business strategy more efficiently. Application service governance makes it easy to enforce policies and contracts, as well as ensure security and compliance to safeguard APIs and services, control access, and enforce standards.
• Changing requirements: As business requirements change, companies move beyond their four walls. Both internal and external services play a part in the enterprise, and MuleSoft makes it easy to manage both. With granular control over service and API lifecycles, businesses can reduce risk and downtime, ensuring organizations get the most out of their business. Additionally, application service governance makes it easy to log all changes in a central location for traceability and auditability.

Anypoint Platform for application service governance

MuleSoft offers a robust, next generation platform for the New Enterprise to help businesses overcome the challenges of connecting their heterogeneous enterprise. Learn more about the new enterprise and the Anypoint Platform, or contact us today to see what MuleSoft can offer businesses to aid with application service management.